7 popular steak myths

For a long time, the culture of steak cooking in our country was absent as a class, and to catch up, we adopted foreign terms like “ribeye” and “striploin”, and methods of frying. If American, Argentinean and Australian chefs have been successfully cooking steaks for so many years, they probably managed to thoroughly understand what is good for steak and what is not. Is it logical? More than.

So it turned out that the myths, which over the years, like the bottom of a ship like shells, have overgrown the preparation of steaks, have migrated into the minds of many – and often very famous – chefs without verification, who successfully replicate them on every corner.

The wonderful portal Serious Eats has published a detailed article with a selection of these myths and their detailed analysis. I decided to translate this article with small abbreviations, because I am sure that it will be very useful for many, clearly showing that not a single culinary axiom, even the most logical, can be taken for granted. As the author himself writes:

Every time I see articles like this, I have an overwhelming, uncontrollable urge to scream, “Stop! Enough! This is all wrong! I know your steak might still work out pretty well if you follow these tips, and these myths probably live on for so long because people are happy with “good” and don’t need “better” or “flawless.” … And, as they say, you don’t need to fix something that isn’t broken, right? But how can you just sit back and watch how blatant disinformation is being spread ?!

Every time I see articles like this, I have an overwhelming, uncontrollable urge to scream, “Stop! Enough! This is all wrong! I know your steak might still work out pretty well if you follow these tips, and these myths probably live on for so long because people are happy with “good” and don’t need “better” or “flawless.” … And, as they say, you don’t need to fix something that isn’t broken, right? But how can you just sit back and watch as blatant misinformation is spreading ?! So, the exposure session. Go!

Myth # 1: “Steak needs to be brought to room temperature before cooking.”

Theory: The meat should be cooked evenly from the edges to the middle. Therefore, the closer the initial temperature of the steak is to the cooking temperature, the more evenly it will cook. Leaving the meat on the table for 20-30 minutes will allow it to warm up to room temperature – 10-15 degrees closer to serving temperature. In addition, warmer meats are better fried outside, as this will require less energy.

Reality: Let’s take this statement point by point. First, the internal temperature. It is true that slowly heating the steak to its final cooking temperature will result in a more even frying, but in practice, letting the steak warm up to room temperature, we will not change much. A practical test showed that a steak with an initial temperature of 3 degrees, which spent 20 minutes at room temperature 21 degrees, inside warmed up only 1 degree. After 1 hour and 50 minutes, the temperature inside the steak reached 10 degrees – colder than cold tap water, and only 13% closer to the temperature of a medium rare steak than a steak from the refrigerator.

It is possible to speed up the heating time of the steak by placing it on a sheet of highly conductive metal (such as aluminum *), but it is possible to waste this hour of time more efficiently if you cook the steak in a souvid.

* tip: if you put frozen meat in an aluminum pan, it thaws twice as fast

Two hours later – a time far beyond what any book or cook would recommend – the two steaks were cooked over hot coals. The steak, which was left to “come” to room temperature, took almost the same time as the steak straight out of the refrigerator, with both steaks being evenly cooked on the inside and crusting on the outside the same.

Why did it happen? .. After all, if the uniformity of frying can still be explained (the temperature inside both steaks did not differ so much), then how could the difference in surface temperatures of the steaks not affect their frying outside? until most of the moisture has evaporated from the surface layer of the meat. It takes five times more energy to turn one gram of water into steam than to heat the same water from 0 to 100 degrees. Thus, when frying a steak, most of the energy is spent on evaporating moisture. A difference of 10, 15 or even 20 degrees means almost nothing.

Conclusion: Don’t waste time warming steaks to room temperature. Instead, wipe them very thoroughly with paper towels before frying, or better yet, salt them and leave them on the wire rack in the refrigerator for a night or two to remove moisture from the surface. In this case, the meat will cook much better.

Myth # 2: “Fry meat until crusty to seal the juices inside.”

Theory: By frying the surface of the meat, we create an insurmountable barrier that will keep the juices inside during cooking.

Reality: Frying does not create any obstacle – the liquid can pass both outside and inside the fried steak without any problems. To prove this, two steaks were cooked to the same core temperature (54,4 degrees). One steak was first roasted over hot coals and then cooked on the cooler side of the grill. The second steak is first cooked on the colder side, and at the very end is fried over coals. If this myth were true, the first steak should have been juicier.

In reality, everything turned out to be exactly the opposite: a steak that was initially cooked at a lower temperature, and fried only at the very end, not only acquired a deeper and darker crust (due to the fact that its surface was drier during frying – see Myth No. 1), but also roasted more evenly, due to which the meat turned out to be more juicy and aromatic.

Conclusion: If you are cooking a thick steak, do it at a lower temperature until the desired cooking temperature is about 5 degrees. Then fry the steak on a hot grill for a golden brown crust. When grilling thinner steaks (about 2,5 cm or thinner), grill them on the hot grill – by the time they are medium rare they will have a great crust on the surface.

Myth # 3: “Boneless steak tastes more intense than boneless steak.”

Theory: Bones contain flavoring compounds that pass into the meat when the steak is fried. Thus, if you cook a bone-in steak, it will taste more intense than a bone-cut steak.

Reality: This idea sounds crazy at first: bones contain more flavor than meat? And what, then, squeezes this taste out of the bones into the meat? And if this strange interchange of tastes really happens, what prevents the taste from the meat from going to the bones? Why does this rule only work one way? And how, finally, do these large taste molecules penetrate into muscle tissue, especially at a time when it is actively displacing everything in it, under the influence of heat?

In general, there is actually no exchange of flavors between meat and bones, and this is easy to verify. To do this, it is enough to cook three different steaks – one on the bone, the second with the bone removed, which is tied back, and the third also with the bone removed, which was tied by placing an impenetrable layer of aluminum foil between it and the meat. Try these steaks (preferably blindly and in a large company) and you will find that their tastes are no different.

However, roasting steaks on the bone has its advantages. First, it looks cool, and when you grill, you do just that. Secondly, the bone will act as an insulator, removing excess heat from the meat that is adjacent to it. Perhaps this is where the legs of this myth grow – less fried meat really turns out to be more juicy. Finally, some consider the connective tissue and fat surrounding the bone to be the most delicious part of a steak, and it is foolish to deny them that pleasure.

Conclusion: Grill the steaks on the bone. There will be no exchange of flavors between meat and bone, but the other benefits of steaks on the bone make it worthwhile.

Myth # 4: “You only need to turn a steak once!”

Theory: This “rule” is repeated literally by everyone, and it applies not only to steaks, but also to burgers, lamb chops, pork chops, chicken breasts and so on. And, to be honest, I don’t really understand what theory might be behind this myth. Perhaps this is a continuation of the myth of “sealing juices” and the belief that it is possible to keep juices inside the steak by turning it over only after a noticeable crust is obtained on one side. Or maybe the point is that the longer the steak is cooked on one side, the better the crust, or that this will cook the inside of the steak more evenly. But…

Reality: But the reality is that by flipping a steak many times, you will not only cook it faster – 30% faster! – but also get a more even roast. As the scientist and author Harold McGee explained, turning the steak over and over often means we don’t let either side get too hot or cool too much. If you imagine that you can flip a steak instantly (overcoming air resistance, friction and the speed of light), it turns out that you cook it on both sides at the same time, but in a more delicate way. And a more delicate cooking means a more even cooking.

And while it will take longer to get a crust, if you keep turning the steak, you can cook it on maximum heat for longer without worrying about burning it. Also, this cooking method avoids a strong temperature difference inside the meat, which would be inevitable if you cook it over hot coals without turning it over.

But this, as they say, is not all! By turning the steak frequently, you minimize the problem of buckling and shrinking of the meat that occurs when fat and connective tissue shrinks faster than meat when exposed to high temperatures. There are two possible advantages to frying a steak with a single turn.

First, there are cute grill marks – you won’t get them by constantly turning the steak. Secondly, if you fry a lot of steaks at the same time, you won’t be able to constantly turn each one of them.Conclusion: Frying the steak by turning it over and over is optional, but if someone tells you that this is how you spoil the steak, you might argue that the science is on your side.

Myth # 5: “Don’t salt your steak before it’s ready!”

Theory: Salting the meat too early will dry and tough it.

Reality: A dry surface is not a bad thing for a steak, as moisture must evaporate for a crust to appear, which means that the drier the steak is at the beginning, the better it will cook. Plus, by adding salt to the steak beforehand, you will retain more moisture inside it.

Once on the surface of the meat, the salt will begin to draw moisture from it, after a while it will dissolve in it, and the resulting brine will be absorbed into the steak during the osmosis process. Giving the meat enough time to soak up the brine and distribute inside will give the steak a more even and richer flavor. Salting the steak after it has been cooked is not a good idea: you will end up with a salty surface and too bland meat inside the steak. However, at the end you can add a flake of salt (Fleur de Sel or similar), which will give the meat texture instead of dissolving on the surface like regular salt does.

Conclusion: For best results, salt the steak at least 45 minutes – and up to 2 days – before frying, placing it on a wire rack to allow the surface to dry and the salt to soak into the meat. Serve the steak with crispy sea salt.

Myth # 6a: “Do not flip the steak with a fork”

Theory: If you pierce the steak with a fork, precious juices begin to flow out of it.

Reality: It’s true. To a certain extent. How small that you can never tell it apart. This myth is based on the idea that a steak is like a balloon with water inside that can be “pierced”. In fact, things are a little different.

A steak is rather a formation of a large number of very very very very very small balls of water that are tightly bound together. Poking the steak with a fork will, of course, burst some of these balls, but the rest will remain intact. Fill a whole pool with balls and throw a needle into it. Perhaps a couple of balls will really burst, but you are unlikely to notice it. This is the very principle of a device such as a tenderizer – it pierces the meat with many thin needles, separating some muscle fibers without breaking them.

Conclusion: If your tongs or spatula are in the dishwasher, you can safely use a fork. None of the guests will notice the difference.

Myth # 6b: “Don’t cut the steak to check if it’s done.”

Theory: As with the previous theory, people believe that by cutting a steak, you will lose all the juices.

Reality: The loss of juices due to one small incision is absolutely negligible on the scale of a whole piece of meat. If you make the incision invisible, no one will ever know what it was. Another thing is that it is far from always possible to assess readiness by looking inside the steak, and if the steak is on the grill, it is also quite difficult to do this.

Conclusion: Use this method of checking readiness only as a last resort if you do not have a thermometer on hand. It will not affect the quality of the finished meat, but it will be very difficult to correctly assess the readiness.

Myth # 7: “You can check the readiness of a steak by poking your finger at it.”

Theory: An experienced cook can determine the degree of doneness of a steak by testing the tenderness with his finger. If it is raw, it will be as soft as the base of your thumb pressed against the tip of your index finger. The softness of a steak of medium is the softness of the base of the thumb, the tip of which is pressed against the tip of the middle, while well done is the softness of the base of the thumb, the tip of which is pressed against the tip of the ring finger.

Reality: There are so many uncontrollable variables in this theory that it’s strange how anyone would take it seriously at all. First, not all hands are created equal, and my thumb may be softer or harder than yours. By what finger are we going to evaluate readiness, in my opinion or in yours? ..

Now let’s move on to the meat itself. Thick steaks shrink differently than thin steaks. Fatty steaks shrink differently than lean steaks. The tenderloin shrinks differently from the ribeye. Now you can see why, by using this method and slicing a steak, it is easy to find that it is undercooked or overcooked. It’s especially frustrating if this happens the first time you fry an expensive and very marbled kobe steak, which shrinks in a very different way than its leaner cousins: the result is a destroyed steak and a destroyed ego.

Some of the truth in this myth is that if you work in a restaurant and regularly fry the same cuts of meat, you will soon really learn how to tell when they are tender by tenderness. But if you remove the regularity factor, this skill will quickly disappear.

Conclusion: There is only one known way to determine the degree of roasting of a steak with 100% reliability: a meat thermometer. That’s all, although from myself I would add another myth – “Steaks must be pepper at the very end, otherwise the pepper will burn when frying.” Are there other steak myths you know about? ..